Christmas always means Turkey for my family. A big turkey. Which means there is always a lot of leftovers. I'm not the biggest fan of eating leftover roast turkey for an entire week. It works for some people, but not for me. I'd much rather turn the leftovers into something else. Turkey pie, or even better, turkey soup.  I LOVE homemade soup, especially turkey soup. The post-Christmas turkey soup may even be better than the main event for me.

Usually it's my grandfather that makes the soup, but this year I scored the coveted carcass. The bones went into the pot with carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves and pepper corns and simmered for a good 4 hours to get a nice rich stock. Since this made a lot of stock, I made 2 different batched of soup. Here's what materialized this afternoon:

The classic turkey soup, and always a favourite. I don't really measure when I make soup, but here's an estimated recipe.

* 8 cups homemade turkey stock and bits of leftover turkey
* 2 stalks of celery, diced

* 2 carrots, coarsely chopped

* 1 onion, diced

* 2 cloves of garlic, minced

* 1/2 cup corn kernels

* 1 to 1 1/2 tsp herbs de provence

* 2 to 2 1/2 cups broad egg noodles

* salt and pepper to taste

Add fresh veggies and herbs to the stock and bring to a boil. Add the corn and bring back to a boil; simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add the noodles, salt and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes or until done.

Originally I was thinking of doing a turkey and wild rice soup, but I had kale in the fridge and a sprouted rice and quinoa blend in the cupboard. Voila, a new soup, that just may become a go-to recipe.

* 6 cups turkey stock with leftover turkey bits

* 1 onion, diced

* 2 carrots, diced

* 2 cloves garlic, minced

* small bunch of kale, deveined and ripped into bit size pieces

* 1 to 1 1/2 cups sprouted rice and quinoa blend (I had Tru Roots from Costco - I soak and rinse this blend to avoid any soapy quinoa taste)

* 1 to 1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

* pinch of cumin

* salt and pepper to taste

Add the fresh veggies to the stock and bring to a boil. Add the rice blend and seasonings. Simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Camping is really just an excuse to eat. Let's face it, you get up, eat, play a game or go for a hike, eat, play some more, drink & eat, eat, sit around a fire and finally eat some more before going to bed. That's a lot of eating, and requires tasty diversity. A package of hotdogs and bag of chips just won't cut it.

Here are some of my family's, I say family but that includes friends that we camp with, favourites.

Breakfast
- Nutella stuffed French Toast. Yes, that's right. Nutella. With berries. And back bacon. I love using back bacon when we're camping because there is no fatty mess to clean up/have the boys pour on the fire (I'm sure the best part is watching me freak out about flames getting too high, etc.!).

If chocolate and hazelnuts aren't your thing, cream cheese will also work.
- Scrambled omelettes. Eggs, peppers, onions, ham, cheese. Top it off with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Yippee!
** Crack the eggs into a ziplock bag beforehand. No shells to deal with, and no risk of something breaking all over the cooler.

Snacks and Appies
One of my favourites is Baked Brie. Yep, wrap up the Brie in foil, pop on the side of the fire and enjoy!

If it's hot out and we don't feel up to cooking, we will pull out the goat cheese and pepper jelly or Boursin to top our crackers.

This year we tried out Nachos in foil pans. Load all the nacho goodness into one pan, top with another to make a little oven and place over the fire. We didn't have a fire going because it was ridiculously hot, so we simply popped this on the grill side of our propane stove. The results were delicious!

What are your favourite gourmet camping foods?

September is coming to a close and I've been back at my fourth job for about a month now. Fourth job? Here's how I see it:

• Job 1 is taking care of the Little Man. He's still breastfeeding, so there is a lot of his care that I am primarily responsible for.
• Job 2 is really part-time. Keeping the house clean and all the living things here alive (dog, cat, kid, adults). Hubby is pretty good about helping out, he does 80% of the laundry. That's right, laundry is his department.
• Job 3 is keeping the dog in line. She's only just turning 2. She's stubborn and strong willed. Having been home for 14 months with her after N was born, she's decided that she will *mostly* listen to me. Who cares what anyone else asks her to do. Apparently it's Mom or no one.
• Job 4. My 80 other kids. Grades 8 and 9, and in February another 30 in Grade 10.

Going back to Job 4 wasn't hard, but it also wasn't very easy. I love spending time with my boy, playing with him, caring for him. Missing out on day to day activities is hard. I was also worried about the time and energy that teaching full time, especially the semester with no prep time, required, and whether I would have enough patience, energy, love to give to the most important people in my life.
At the same time, I was ready to get a little of "me" back. To not have little hands fishing down my shirt, stretching all of my tops, all day. To be able to be creative in a way that I'd put on hold for a year. To feel like the 5+ years of post-secondary and associated student debt wasn't a waste.

This first month back was great. At the end of August I wasn't sure how I would feel come the end of September.
I am fortunate to be in a job share, so I can balance my other 3 jobs with the paying one.
I found childcare with a lady who gently cares for her kids; letting them get messy, explore and be creative while teaching them to be kind and gentle.
I get to work with some amazing teachers.
Most of all, I get the best hugs when I pick up my guy after my school day is done, go home, and nurse my baby.

I love, I mean LOVE fruit. Monkey seems to be taking after me in that regard. He's nuts about almost every fruit we've given him. Right now, he's really enjoying blueberries, blackberries and peaches. He even taught himself how to pick blueberries.

With all the local fruit available, I've been stocking up the freezer with fruit, making pies and jam. I like to try out new recipes, or adapt ones that I have so that I can use what's on hand, or just change things up a bit.

I made a Blueberry Peach Loaf, which was a huge hit with the little man, as well as Blackberry & Strawberry Jam. I love blackberries, but Hubby doesn't really branch out beyond apples, bananas and strawberries, so straight up blackberry jam is pushing it.

For the jam, I simply followed the recipe in the liquid Certo box for Strawberry jam, but substituted half of the strawberries for blackberries. The result: super yummy jam that Hubby will eat!

As for the Blueberry Peach Loaf, the recipe called for sour cream, I only had some plain yogurt in the fridge, so that's what I used. I also have a tendency to substitute half the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour in most of my baking, unless it's a cake! I love using the whole wheat pastry flour because it's ground so fine that it doesn't effect the texture of the final product. It's great for pies, pizza dough, even cookies!

Blueberry Peach Loaf (my adapted version)

1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 peach, peeled and diced
1 cup (approx.) blueberries - let's be real though, I dumped about 3 handfuls in, so it was probably more like 1 1/2 cups

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line a loaf pan.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs, vanilla and yogurt.

Combine flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. (Or if you're me, just throw them all into the cream mixture; who wants to wash more dishes!).

Gently stir together, about 7-8 strokes. Add fruit, and continue to gently stir until everything is just moistened. DON'T OVER-MIX! If you mix too much, you will get tunnels and your loaf will be tough. I could go into a whole thing about building up too much gluten, but I won't. Just don't over-mix and you'll be fine.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Enjoy!

Summer is here and for me that means camping. Last year, the closest I got to camping was packing up the 3 week old and the puppy, and heading out to visit some friends for the day at a local Provincial site. This year we were determined to get in a camping trip or two.

Both Hubby and I grew up camping. We've done family camping in trailers and tents. We've gone backpacking, winter camping, and on canoe/kayak trips. So no, camping doesn't scare us. Taking a baby and dog, together, on their first camping trip? No problem. I remember being 5 and going on a family camping trip with my 4 month old sister, and dogs. If generations of people manage to live without the luxuries we deem necessary for everyday life, then a weekend camping shouldn't be a problem. So we packed up Kahlie, the dog, Monkey and our stuff and headed to a Provincial site about a 1 1/2 hour drive away for the long weekend.

We've got some great outdoor gear. We currently take a light-weight car camping approach. That means a combination of backpacking gear and non-technical gear. Yep, we've given up the Thermorests in favour of a more comfortable air mattress. We still try to travel pretty light since there isn't a lot of space in the Jeep after Kahlie and car seat are installed. With a baby, we knew that there would be some extras that we would have to take.

 Here's what we brought with us to make camping with Monkey as easy as
possible:
A small sleeping bag, Monkey slept on the air mattress with us, but with a little bag for himself.
A playpen, something to contain him on the site, a place for naps, and to keep him out of the goose poop on the beach.
A Rubbermaid bin, to pack his clothes, diapers, etc. in. It doubled as a bath/pool.
Long pants and shirt, where there's water, there are bugs; we needed to keep him covered up in the mornings and evenings.
Small selection of toys, mostly water toys. He was more interested in the dogs, trees, rocks and dirt, but the toys were helpful when we were making or eating dinner and needed 2 hands.
Favourite foods. Camping is already a big change, so we stuck with his favourite foods: avocado, banana, hummus and crackers, Naan bread pizza, baby cereal. He grazed off our food too.
Ergo Carrier we love our Ergo, as usual it was great for short walks or when he wanted to be up, but I needed my hands free.

We took a high chair, but as per usual, he wormed his way out and tried to stand up. I would consider it an optional item.

We had a great time on our first "family" camping trip. The site was surprisingly quite for a long weekend, full, but quiet. We had a great combination of games, good food (which is a must for me while camping!), and relaxation. By the end of each day everyone was ready for bed.

We just returned home from a holiday in the Czech Republic and Austria. We took Monkey to meet his dad's Baba, as well as explore come of central Europe.

Flying with a 10 month old was my biggest concern, especially since hubby and I were sitting a few rows apart, and neither of us travel well to begin with. Taking an evening flight was great. Because we left Vancouver at 4:30, Monkey slept for over half the first flight and for all of the second flight! Our return was in the morning, and he did not sleep until the last 2 hours of the second flight. That being said, he was one of the best behaved, and quietest babies on both the flights.

From the nickname Monkey, it's probably obvious that I've got a curious, energetic and active little guy. Fortunately, we were staying with family for the first 5 days, so he had room to crawl around and practice walking between short trips into town and visits to local points of interest. Also, this meant that we fed him at home for the most part, while he adapted to the time change.

The next few days were spent in hotels as we travelled to Southern Bohemia and Austria, so there were a few long days of car travel/stroller/carrier time. We were travelling with my in-laws, so there were lots of hands to entertain him through these long stretches. We covered a lot of ground: Czesky Krumlov, Telc,
Trebon and Kitzbuhel.

Our last 5 days were spent in an apartment in Prague. This was wonderful. We had breakfast and dinner in the apartment, and ate lunches out. Monkey got his crazies out in the morning
before we headed out, so he generally slept for the morning and then had his afternoon nap while we explored after lunch. Since we returned for the evening, he had more time to play.

Overall, our experience was great. People were accomodating, we rarely found a place that didn't have a highchair (although some were pretty sketchy!), trams has spots for strollers, and strangers were always willing to help. Monkey came home with a new food repitoire including Emmental, biscuits, dumplings and Pilsen goulash, and pizza.

Here are the things I've learned about travelling with little ones:
- Fly later in the day when possible. If they sleep, you sleep!
- Request the bulk head/bassinet while on the plane
- Bring books and toys
- Bring some baby snacks - we flew KLM, and they provided snacks (puree and biscuits) one way, but not the other.
- Stroller is a must for airports and sight seeing. I hike with Monkey regularly, but he went through a growth spurt and the 
Ergo just didn't cut it for long days on the back. I needed something with more support. Plus, all the locals use strollers, so if they can do it, why not me?!
- Stay in an apartment when possible so you don't have to
wait for restaurants to open for breakfast
- No one makes you feel bad for having a baby with you, they often smile, say hi, entertain them for a while and will even help you
- Take lots of pictures... especially of them sleeping through all the sights!
- Get to the airport early. Really early. The airline somehow "lost" our ticket to get Monkey home. An hour later we were buying a new ticket rather than leaving him in Prague.

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions. I prefer to set goals throughout the year as they come to me. In November I signed up to complete a 22 km military inspired obsticle course in June. Maybe a bit crazy, but I want my babe to grow up knowing that his mom likes to have fun, try new things and stay active.

This got me thinking about really making a concerted effort to go out and do the things that I enjoy with the people I enjoy. This past month I hit the 6-month-wall of being on mat leave, combined with lovely Vancouver January weather, I was getting an itch to be more social; spending the weekends cleaning and walking the dog just weren't cutting it.

Dine Out Vancouver is currently on, and has been a staple activity for us over the past years. Combine living in the suburbs with a baby and it's a little more difficult to pop out for a nice dinner Downtown. Fortunately this year there was a daytime food truck event. Since we missed the summer food truck festivals we decided to take advantage of a large number of food trucks in one place as well as the opportunity to catch up with our friends that live out that way. Despite the rain, headed out, stroller and all for a day of food and fun with some friends.

We tried out three different dishes from three different food trucks:
risotto balls from Street
Meet (fantastic!!), hungry man perogies from Holy Perogy (beef jerky on the perogies, um, YES!) and a bacon and havarti grilled cheese from Mom's Grilled Cheese (totally worth the long line up). It was all delicious, and the carbs, cheese and bacon were exactly what we needed considering the wedding we'd attended the night before. Can't wait for the next food truck festival!

It's Monday morning, the slow cooker is on and filled with a pork shoulder. Yep, we're having pulled pork sandwiches for dinner tonight. This is one of my favouite simple dinners. Here's why I love this dinner:
- Simple and easy. Rub pork with a spice mixture, put in slow cooker and leave it fir about 8 hour on low. Come dinner time, all I have to do is throw some dressing on the coleslaw (I like a tangy cider based dressing), shred the pork and load up some whole wheat buns. Probably less than 15 minutes of work total to make this dinner.
- Tastey!! Hubby likes to use an all purpose rub that from his Memphis Blues cookbook on all sorts of things so it's naturally what we use when making pulled pork. And really, a little pork fat make almost everything taste good!
- Economical meal. Protien can be expensive. We try to go to a local butcher and pick up our meat on sale. This particular cut of meat was less than $13 and will make us at least 8 servings.
- Delicious leftovers. Pulled pork pizza. Pulled pork tacos. Pulled pork nachos. Or even this delicious looking Pork & Potato Hash!

Memphis Blues was featured on CBC's cooking club. Check out the recipe we use as inspiration for our slowcooker version: http://www.cbc.ca/bc/cookingclub/recipes/recipe_pulled_pork.pdf

OK, so I'd been resisting and resisting the temptation to sign up for a Pinterest account. I finally caved. It's sooooo addictive, and filled with fantastic ideas. Plus it's keeping me more organized and in some ways making me set some goals; example being to try a new recipe or two each week. So far I've tested a few recipes (a Tuscan Sausage Soup and a Mediterranean Beef Stew) and started a few sewing projects. Will post some of the results!

About a week before Christmas Monkey had a few nights where he woke up to feed 2-3 times. Since he was usually good for sleeping through until about 6 in the morning, this was a bit odd, but I wasn't too concerned. By the third night of this happening, despite him nursing heavily before bed, I figured it was time to give solids a try. He was afterall, 5 1/2 months, and constantly grabbing at our plates.

I've skimmed a few books and articles on feeding baby, but as with everything else baby related, tried to avoid following any one perscribed method or philosophy too closely. I'm me. I want my parenting style and choices to reflect me. And I want reason and common sense to be a big part of my decisions.

We started him off with some barley cereal, then introduced some yams for flavour. I don't like bland food, so why would he?!  Monkey loved the yams so we figured we'd try some pear that I'd cooked, pureed and frozen this summer while it was in season. Also a hit. Not surprising as over the previous few weeks he'd suck on pieces of apple or pear as I was eating them.

I know that the current recommendation is to follow iron-fortified cereal with meats in order to prevent iron-deficiency as baby's iron stores start to decrease at about 6 months. About a week later we tried a bit of pureed turkey mixed with breast milk. Wow! NOT A FAN!

I don't want food to be an issue with him, so I figure that if he gives it a taste 3 days in a row, and it doesn't work, then we move on. No big deal. Each day, same reaction. I think it's the texture, or maybe the taste. He just sits there with his mouth open making a bad face. He doesn't even spit it out. I have to scoop out the turkey with my figer. Agh.

We cooked up some stewing beef, pureed and mixed with milk. Hmmm. Seemed like he liked the flavour a little bit more, but again, not a fan of the texture.

Am I worried? Phoning the nurse help line, scouring internet resources or attempting to collect advise from other local mommie? No. He's a few days short of 6 months. He's still nursing 8 times a day. He like the cereal and loves yams, squash, apple and pears. I think that's reasonable for now. We'll try meat again in a few more days. As for now, we'll keep adding some new veggies. Afterall, food is about fun and exploring at this point.